When one Medford resident found out that he needed a bone marrow transplant, his family decided to use the opportunity to get people to register as bone marrow donors.

By Miranda Willson / mwillson@wickedlocal.com

After 23-year-old Joe Norton was diagnosed with leukemia in July, he spent much of the summer in and out of the hospital.

Though no longer hospitalized, Joe and his family recently found out that he needed a bone marrow transplant, which requires finding a good – or, ideally, perfect – donor.

Joe’s father, Barry Norton, realized that his son could be a match with one of his two brothers, but genetics is not the sole determinant of a match.

“There could be someone else out there with the same makeup as my boys, but the other characteristics might match better,” Barry, whose family lives in Medford, said. “That’d be a super match, and that’d be less stressful on the body.”

According to the National Marrow Donor Program, the most successful transplants occur when a patient’s human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and the HLA of a donor closely match. The chances of someone finding a close match from the NMDP’s “Be the Match” registry are 66-97 percent, with people of color and ethnic minorities less likely to find a match.

Because the chances of finding an ideal match are imperfect, the Nortons decided to start a campaign to encourage people to donate to the registry.

“I’m not a social media type, I’ve never been on Facebook or anything,” Barry said. “But I went through my phone, and I have maybe 135 contacts, and I emailed and texted everyone to spread the word.”

Thanks to help from friends and relatives, word spread quickly of Joe’s need for a transplant and the importance of registering to be a donor. But Joe and Barry wanted to take it a little further.

Given that people between the ages of 18 and 44 are the ideal donors, they decided to get young people involved through Joe’s brother's connections as a student at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

“I suggested we do a friendly challenge to see which schools would do better at it, make it a competition,” Barry said.

They decided to call it the "Cotton Swab Challenge," similar to the "Ice Bucket Challenge," a social media campaign that started in 2014 to raise awareness about ALS.

In addition to reaching out to students, Barry contacted Mayor Stephanie M. Burke to see if she could help spread the word. Burke reportedly loved the idea and rallied together more than 300 people on Oct. 6 at Medford High School, including Medford High School students, elected officials, Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson, coaches and family and friends of Joe, challenging them to get involved in the issue.

Burke also invited the mayors of Somerville, Malden and Melrose to join the challenge.

“Everyone’s been extremely helpful,” Barry said.

Those who did not attend the Cotton Swab Challenge last week will have another opportunity this weekend at the city's Harvest Your Energy Festival on Oct. 14. People can also register anytime at bethematch.org.

Barry said that Joe, who is overwhelmed by the support and attention, has been making progress when it comes to his health.

“He’s doing as good as could be expected,” Barry said. “I don’t know how to deal with it -- he’s amazing. He’s consoling other people. He’s an amazing young man.”

He added that Joe never wanted the challenge to be about him, but for everyone in need of a bone marrow transplant, especially those with less support and fewer family members who could be a potential match.

“I hope that we’ll have so much marrow registration that people won’t have to worry [anymore],” Barry said. “There’s a cure, but the cure is we all have to get involved to save them.”